Sasé-istwé
[searching for stories, searching for trouble]
by Maxime Jean-Baptiste and Elli Vassalou
Can we speak up and enact a non-colonial, polyvocal take on a story? In which ways does it resonate in contemporary times?
Sasé Istwé is a film project and a polyphonic platform which dialogues with “L’affaire des Insurges de Cayenne”, a historical event that included the radicalization of the Guyanese people, an uprising, a long trial and finally the acquittal of the defendants. These events took place between Cayenne [French Guiana] and Nantes [France] in the interwar period. This incident has affected the history of France outre-mer territories and has up until the present been used by France to perpetuate an idealized image of republicanism based upon universalism.
This project is searching for micro-stories, silenced behind the dominant narratives by using the reactivation of the trial’s archives in a creative dialogue with people of the Guyanese diaspora in Europe and in French Guiana.
Maxime Jean-Baptiste is a filmmaker and Elli Vassalou is a multimedia artist, performer, researcher and activist. They are both interested in decolonial methodologies of narration and filmaking.
Sasé-istwé is part of
Sound Image Culture (SIC) platform for 2018-2019 and co-funded by Vlaams Audiovisueel Fonds (VAF) and Bureau International Jeunesse (BIJ).
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